Matthew Stafford feels like he 'can't connect' with young Rams teammates, wife Kelly says
After missing the last seven games of the 2022 NFL season, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is gearing up to a return to the field, but he seems to be having a tough time connecting with his new teammates.
The Rams roster looks vastly different from the Super Bowl 56 championship team, with Los Angeles embracing a youth movement with 36 rookies on the training camp roster, 14 of which were selected in the 2023 draft. With so many young guys on the team, Stafford's wife Kelly said on her podcast, "The Morning After With Kelly Stafford," her husband is having a difficult time forming relationships with the new people.
"It’s kind of crazy. So Matthew’s been in the league a long time. He’s like, 'The difference in the locker room has changed so significantly.' They have a lot of rookies on their team, they’re very young," she said. "But he’s like, 'I feel like I can’t connect. In the old days you’d come out of practice, you’d shower, and people would be playing cards, people would be interacting. Who knows what they're doing, but they're doing something together.
"But now they get out of practice, and meetings during training camp, and they go straight to their phones," Kelly Stafford said.
Kelly Stafford added that her husband's teammates don't view him as one of their own, but look at him as more of a coach.
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"They say 'sir' to him and (expletive)," she said. "He's like, 'No, we're on the same level here, we're both playing in this league. Let me get to know you.' He said it's so different and so hard to get to know these guys.
"Nowadays, it's really hard to develop that because all these young kids, they don't care. Or it's not that they don't care, they're so used to going straight to their phones instead of having some fun with some guys in the locker room. It's different. It's kind of sad."
At 35 years old, Stafford will be entering his 15th season in the NFL, and is one of only five players on the Rams roster at least the age of 30. Aaron Donald, Rob Havenstein, Cooper Kupp and Tyler Higbee are the others.